


The Boys Don't Need You | (Even if I Do)

by MapleHere



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Breakup, Canon Divergent, F/M, Hoho's a bad dad and Trisha deserves to vent about it, I had an idea last night and it was sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27881561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MapleHere/pseuds/MapleHere
Summary: Van Hohenheim has been away for nearly six years without a single attempt to reestablish contact with the family he left behind.  Trisha is hurt, and Van needs to know.Or: What I think should have happened had Hohenheim ever returned.
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric & Trisha Elric, Trisha Elric & Van Hohenheim, Trisha Elric/Van Hohenheim
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	The Boys Don't Need You | (Even if I Do)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is another one of the sprints I did with my friends--see if you can guess the prompt!

Trisha stared out the window blankly, arms crossed and chest aching. The boys had stayed the night at the Rockbells' house.

"Hey..."

The brunette turned to look at the father of her children, eyes empty. "Van." She looked back out over the yard and pulled squeezed her upper arms in a weak attempt at self-control. She wanted to collapse into his arms. She wanted to let him console her after his years of absence. She wanted―

"I'm home, Sweetheart."

"I have a name, Van," her voice was cold, "and it's not  _ sweetheart." _

The blond was silent for a moment. "I―”

"Do you even know how long it's been, Van?" She turned to him again, her green eyes full of a fire they hadn't contained in years. "Do you know how old your sons are? How old  _ I _ am?"

The golden man said nothing, and the hurt on his face made her want to revoke her words, but he needed to hear them. The way his shoulders― _ broad, broad shoulders― _ slumped beneath his vest, the way his face fell, the deep-set wrinkles in his forehead. Her immortal man had aged, too.

"N...no...I don't..." he finally said, his gaze falling to the floor.

"Well, Ed just turned eight," she said, reaching behind herself to untie her apron. "And Al will be seven next month." She pulled the apron over her head and folded it over her left arm. "That means,  _ dear, _ that you've been gone for almost six years. And not a single phone call." She looked at him again, and the pain in her chest only worsened.

"I-I'm sorry, Trisha."

"Sorry?" She raised an eyebrow at that and shook her head before pushing past him into the kitchen. "Yeah, me, too." She draped her apron over the back of her chair and gripped it tightly. "I'm sorry that you missed our boys growing up. I'm sorry that Al  _ still _ asks about you  _ every single night.  _ I'm sorry that Edward has grown to resent you  _ so much _ that he won't even stay in the room if you're brought up." She looked at him again, glaring with a hatred she'd never held before. "I'm sorry that  _ you _ decided to abandon us."

"I wasn't abandoning you!" Van rushed, brows knitting together in concern. "I―there was something important I―!"

"Something  _ important?!" _ she interrupted, standing up straight. "Something  _ important,  _ Van, is your  _ family!  _ Our  _ sons _ are important! And you  _ left them! _ You left  _ me!" _ Her voice broke on the last word, and suddenly she realized just how watery her vision had become. Van stepped forward, hand outstretched to offer some form of consolation, but she stepped back and held up her right hand, wiping her face with her left. "Don't."

The blond let his hand fall to his side as Trisha roughly scrubbed away the tears she should have run out of by now. "I never meant―"

"Intentions don't mean anything, Van," she said wetly, her own arms falling slack. "Not when someone gets hurt." She swallowed thickly and looked down, smoothing the skirt of her dress. "You should know that better than anyone."

"I...what do you want me to say, Trisha?" His voice was broken, empty.

_ Just like me, _ she thought. "There's nothing you  _ can _ say, Van," she admitted, her posture slumping. "There's  _ nothing _ you can say to me that will convince me...that you leaving was worth it...that you weren't being selfish when you did it."

"Trisha...I  _ had _ to go―if I didn't, then―"

"Then why me?" She met his eyes, and suddenly she realized just how shattered she was. "Why did you have to pick  _ me?" _

Van's face fell, but there was nothing he could do. "Because...because you're  _ you..." _

"Well...I wish I wasn't..." Silence rang through the dining room between Trisha's quiet sniffles until, "I think you need to leave, Van."

"Wh...what?"

"You need to leave," she repeated, wiping her face with her skirt. "The boys don't need to know that you were here. They can't handle it―not right now."  _ I can't handle it. _

"What do you mean, Trisha? What are you saying?"

"I want you gone. Leave. And don't come back." She stared at him blankly, jaw set. "Grab your coat and your suitcase. Get whatever  _ shitty  _ research you think you need, and get out. Don't come back here. The boys don't need you."  _ Even if I do. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! You can visit my tumblr at rizathehawkseyehawkeye.tumblr.com, and my writing blog is maples-pages.tumblr.com! Please feel free to leave a comment; they keep me writing!


End file.
